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Does anyone know of a good cardiologist, that does stents etc and preferably works from CIMA or another good hospital? Would you get heart catherazation done In CR or in the US?
Your timing is truly mind boggling because we did a video interview with a cardiologist last Wendesday…
We’ll have this video interview with a highly recommended and VERY experienced interventional cardiologist completed by the end of next week…
After you watch the video I don’t believe you’ll want to talk to any other Doctor… He’s incredibly sincere, caring and compassionate…
Scott
Thanks Scott, I just might need a stent. But there is no emergency. I will check in next week to watch the video.
JohnObviously I don’t know which cardiologist Scott will recommend but a couple of years ago a friend of mine had a heart attack while visiting here and was hospitalized on an emergency basis at Clinica Biblica. Both he and I were very impressed with the quality of care he received, not just from the cardiolgist but from the nursing staff as well.
My husband and I are very interested in this information as well. Our only reservation about moving permanently to C.R. is the availability of good cardiac care. He had a triple bypass 2 years ago and although he is doing well at the moment, we need to be prepared for the inevitable… that he will need more procedures in the future. Recommendation to physicians, hospital(s) and estimate of cost would be greatly appreciated. One C.R. hospital website does give an estimate of cost for cardiac procedures and it was unbelievably cheap! We are well aware that CAJA will not cover his preexisting condition so we will need to be prepared financially. We are not naive. We are well aware that moving away from the U.S. could be a disadvantage in obtaining the medical care that he may need but, we are convinced that the quality of life in C.R. is much better than in the high stress, gourmet life style in the U.S. I can’t wait see this interview and recommendation!!
mbailey, you wrote, “We are well aware that CAJA will not cover his preexisting condition . . .”
In fact, exactly the opposite is true. The CAJA [b]will[/b] cover your husband’s and everyone else’s preexisting conditions. It is the INS, the heretofore national “optional” insurance monopoly, that will not cover preexisting conditions.
The question you should be asking is whether the CAJA has the capacity to meet your husband’s needs in a timely manner. While the technical skills and physical facilities may exist within the CAJA system, the question is whether the demands on those resources are such that needed care must be delayed. In some instances, reported widely, the available resources fall far short of the needs.
We have yet to write the article to accompany this video interview but since I felt that this was urgent information, I wanted you to see it as soon as it was edited…
Dr. Arauz specializes in angioplasties and stent deployment and has performed a total of about 6,000 procedures primarily in a CAJA hospital in San Jose, Costa Rica….
Nurse Mary Hickcox should have the article done within a few days ….
You can see the video interview now at:
Best wishes… Scott
I would like to reply to this question with some VERY recent experience. My husband had two stents in the United States within the last two years. When we departed the States, he had recently received a stress test and (both) of his cardiologists had stated that he was clear and should just go and “enjoy his life”. They were both aware that we were moving to Costa Rica and felt that we should go without further concerns. For the record, my husband is a mountain biking athlete in superb condition, with an excellent diet, never a smoker and not a drinker.
About two months ago, he was rushed to CIMA by private ambulance and it was discovered after an angioplasty that he had another blockage of 80% and he received a new stent during that angioplasty. We were lucky to have his attending cardiologist be the excellent Dr. Yamilah Bourzid at CIMA hospital. The surgery was done with Dr. Diaz.
Here is some important information: his care at CIMA was superb, but the cost for two days in intensive care plus two more in a regular room plus the stent surgery was over $26,000.00. Be prepared to pay for these fees in cash or be prepared NOT TO LEAVE! The security guard at the elevator on my husband’s ward needed to see our paid receipt before we were allowed to board the elevator. If you are not yet covered by the CAJA, you will need to be prepared to pay for all of your expenses in cash. While these fees were highly cheaper than the same services in the United States, it was still a very significant financial burden.
While our pensionado residency is in process, it may be some months before we are able to avail ourselves of the CAJA, where 100% of these fees would have been covered with no waiting period. We will retain Dr. Bourzid as our cardiologist and luckily, Dr. Diaz also works thru the CAJA at Hospital Mexico. Dr. Bourzid’s fees would be private pay as she does not work with the CAJA.
Many of our friends have Dr. Bourzid as their cardiologist and all rave about her expertise, as do we.
I hope this will be of help to the Forum readers.
[quote=”sueandchris”]I would like to reply to this question with some VERY recent experience. My husband had two stents in the United States within the last two years. When we departed the States, he had recently received a stress test and (both) of his cardiologists had stated that he was clear and should just go and “enjoy his life”. They were both aware that we were moving to Costa Rica and felt that we should go without further concerns. For the record, my husband is a mountain biking athlete in superb condition, with an excellent diet, never a smoker and not a drinker.
About two months ago, he was rushed to CIMA by private ambulance and it was discovered after an angioplasty that he had another blockage of 80% and he received a new stent during that angioplasty. We were lucky to have his attending cardiologist be the excellent Dr. Yamilah Bourzid at CIMA hospital. The surgery was done with Dr. Diaz.
Here is some important information: his care at CIMA was superb, but the cost for two days in intensive care plus two more in a regular room plus the stent surgery was over $26,000.00. Be prepared to pay for these fees in cash or be prepared NOT TO LEAVE! The security guard at the elevator on my husband’s ward needed to see our paid receipt before we were allowed to board the elevator. If you are not yet covered by the CAJA, you will need to be prepared to pay for all of your expenses in cash. While these fees were highly cheaper than the same services in the United States, it was still a very significant financial burden.
While our pensionado residency is in process, it may be some months before we are able to avail ourselves of the CAJA, where 100% of these fees would have been covered with no waiting period. We will retain Dr. Bourzid as our cardiologist and luckily, Dr. Diaz also works thru the CAJA at Hospital Mexico. Dr. Bourzid’s fees would be private pay as she does not work with the CAJA.
Many of our friends have Dr. Bourzid as their cardiologist and all rave about her expertise, as do we.
I hope this will be of help to the Forum readers.[/quote]
I’m pleased to hear that your husband received such excellent care at CIMA. My 86 year old mother also uses Dr. Geiner Diaz as her cardiologist. Normally, she sees him privately and pays for her office visits but she receives all her lab work, tests and medicines through the CAJA at Hospital Mexico at no cost.
Earlier in this thread, Scott told me to feel free to recommend a cardiologist. The only reason I didn’t recommend Dr. Diaz is that he doesn’t speak much English. If you use him, and I recommend him without any reservations, you should be fluent in Spanish or bring an interpreter with you to avoid miscommunication.
Incidentally, there are grey areas as to eligibility for CAJA caverage. In my mother’s case, she was enrolled in the CAJA under my coverage as a memeber of my household as soon as she arrived in country, and before she even applied for residency. I wasn’t asked for proof of residency or that she had applied for residency, only for a copy of her US passport for ID purposes. I guess it all depends on who processes the application.
Also, to the best of my knowledge, you are NOT required to have residency to buy health insurance through INS. Following is a link to an English language extract for the INS policy from Garrett & Associates, an INS agency that provides service to many ex-pats here: http://www.segurosgarrett.com/english/individual/medical.asp
Perhaps someone else can clarify this, since I don’t have direct experience with the INS medical insurance coverage.
Jim S., you are correct that one does not have to be a legal resident of Costa Rica to purchase health insurance from INS. What’s more, they offer policies that only pay in Central America and policies that also pay in the U.S. The details are critical, however, so be warned.
INS will not cover preexisting conditions and may surcharge for conditions related to preexisting conditions. Again, the details are critical.
Another option on the horizon is to buy insurance from Mapfre. Mapfre is a Spanish company that is just entering the Costa Rican market. To the best of my knowledge, they’re only offering vehicle insurance right now, but health insurance is in the pipeline. Their quote for car insurance was dramatically less than what we’ve been paying INS, but our INS agent at ARCR, Juan Carlos Calero, says that INS will match their price quote.
[b]sueandchris,[/b] while you mention if you had been covered by CAJA, it wouldn’t have been accepted at CIMA or any of the other private clinics.
Glad to hear the results were positive.I was just wondering if you do not have the cash to pay the hospital bill at the time of your stay what happens? Sue mentioned a guard had to check if she paid her bill? Will the hospital work with you on payments or do they stick you in jail? I can’t believe you would just stay in the hospital until you can get the money to pay the bill? What if you have health insurance from the U.S that you pay monthly on. Will the hospital work with them?
Thanks,
D ThomasWhile I cannot answer regarding the payment from a US insurance firm, I can say that when my husband went for surgery at [url=http://www.hospitallacatolica.com/hhlc/eng/index.php]Hospital Catolica[/url], he ‘pre-paid’ part of the estimated costs.
I would ‘guess’ that if your insurance company was one they had an agreement with, you [i]should be OK…[/i]..but this would be agreed on [i]prior to treatment[/i].
Payments…I don’t think so, since how can they guarantee that you don’t return to the US or just disappear into the jungle?
CAJA takes a bit hit from non-paying patients who have been treated in the course of an emergency.
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